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Candidates named for $100,000 Shanghai Isaac Stern Competition

Starting on 10 August this year, the 36 young violinists will be competing for the biggest prize pot available in any competition

The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition yesterday announced the 36 candidates chosen by the pre-selection jury to take part in the live rounds beginning in August.

In total, 174 young violinists applied to enter the competition for a chance to win its $100,000 top prize, $50,000 second prize or $25,000 third prize. A further $10,000 prize is offered for the best performance of a Chinese work – this year Qigang Chen’s La joie de la souffrance.

It is the biennial competition’s second editition – the first was won by Japanese violinist Mayu Kishima in 2016.

The candidates are:

Yurina Arai, Japan

Marie Bégin, Canada

Jiayi Chen, China

Yige Chen, China

Ellinor D’Melon, Jamaica

Hiu Sing Fan, Hong Kong, China

Mone Hattori, Japan

Shucong He, China

Valerie Kim, United States

Alina Kobialka, United States

Miyeon Lee, South Korea

William Lee, Taiwan, China

Quanshuai Li, China

Po-Yu Lin, Taiwan, China

Ruifeng Lin, China

Zhen Liu, China

Petr Lundstrem, Russia

Ashley Park, United States

Diana Pasko, Russia

Eva Rabchevska, Ukraine

Arsenis Selalmazidis, Greece

Dmitry Smirnov, Russia

Ji Won Song, South Korea

Olga Šroubková, Czech

Sophia Su, United States

Anna Tanaka, Japan

Yun Tang, China

Chang Yuan Ting, Canada

Diana Tishchenko, Ukraine

Chieri Tomii, Japan

Jacqueline Tso, United States

Jiazhi Wang, China

Runyin Zhang, China

Alex Zhou, United States

Jin Zhou, China

Nancy Zhou, United States

The violinists will enter the quarter-final rounds starting on 10 August and progress through semi-final and finals over the course of three weeks.